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08/23/2007: "Our Islands and the Sea"

By Lincoln Bormann

“The biosphere…is essentially continuous in space, a single interwoven web of life covering the surface of our planet.” – Marston Bates, The Forest and the Sea

The Land Bank has always viewed the sea through the prism of human eyes. Everyone wants to see the water without obstruction, as though they had burst through the underbrush into the open and discovered the coastline. The sea has been something to take in, to savor without consuming. Part of our job has been to preserve some part of this feeling.

As we learn more about the connection between the land and water though, we start to think beyond this. Instead of being a vantage point, property becomes defined in terms of its ecological characteristics. Is there an intermittent stream? Does it connect to other conserved properties? Is it forested or prairie, degraded or in good condition? More and more, the emphasis changes toward extending or restoring physical and biological linkages, just as human infrastructure connects us to different places.


We also start to see how what happens on the land affects the sea. It isn’t so hard to understand when you start to look. The fish that salmon prey upon spawn on beaches or eelgrass. Juvenile salmon get much of their nutrition from terrestrial, or land-based, insects and bugs that fall into the water. Seals and otters birth their young on land.

In short, what we do, especially on an island, matters. Putting in one bulkhead or dock or clearing trees off a building lot may not make much difference, but doing this hundreds of times matters a lot.

Now the sea is telling us things are just wrong. Where salmon were plenty there are few. Where rockfish and kings were a delicacy, now they are like a dangerous drug, their consumption comes with a warning label about contamination. Seagrasses, the incubator for many things, like herring, crab, and chinook salmon, die away without our knowing why.

When we ask what to do, too often we pose environmental questions in a backward fashion. How much natural area do we need? How narrow can the stream buffer be without threatening water quality? How many fish can I catch before there will be fewer next year? As Islanders we should know that we can’t afford to cut things this close. Life here is too unpredictable. Rather we need to ask, how much do I need? How can I limit my impacts? How can I leave the place in better condition than when I found it?

This is not a philosophical debate, but rather it is about our willingness to preserve our own life support system. And because the islands are so completely wrapped into the workings of the sea it is up to islanders to look after their waters.

Having a Land Bank is one tool for dealing with this situation. For example, the Westsound area which is so critical for salmon prey species, is much better protected with the acquisition of Turtleback. Our current effort with the Preservation Trust to save the last threatened shoreline of Watmough Bay is another. If successful, the Bay will remain much as it has for centuries.

Beyond that, the Land Bank and other organizations are reaching across normal boundaries to save and restore systems, such as Beaverton Valley Marsh on San Juan or efforts by the Friends of the San Juans to restore shorelines on Lopez and Shaw Islands.

However, there is much more to do. The San Juan Initiative is an effort to assess this situation and to find innovative solutions for maintaining and restoring the islands’ ecology. A group of 15 local citizens was appointed by the County Council and are joined by state and federal agencies in a unique problem solving partnership. For the next two years this group will work on improving how we protect our shorelines as we grow, develop and live on these islands.

In this first year, we will assess how effectively the county, the state and non-profits protect our shoreline habitats. The second year of the project will focus on developing solutions or promoting successful programs to deliver a more efficiently and effectively protected shoreline that benefits all residents of San Juan County.

In the coming months, you will hear more about the initiative and be asked to participate in making decisions about the future. If successful, the effort will likely serve as a model for other communities around the state. This is our chance to demonstrate how to do things better. I encourage county residents to stay tuned and get your ideas ready.